North West children benefit from Add Hope World Hunger Month donations

Date published: 29 November 2017

North West children benefit from Add Hope World Hunger Month donations

During World Hunger Month in October, including World Food Day on 16th October, R5.83 million was raised for national feeding scheme Add Hope. The R2 donations from customers will go to NGOs like SOS Children’s Villages, one of a growing list of 12 national and 125 local beneficiary organisations Add Hope supports around the country. In North West, NGOs that Add Hope reaches include SOS Children’s Village Rustenburg, the Klerksdorp SAVF Rethabile Child Welfare and Adonai Care Centre For The Disabled.

With hunger and malnutrition posing a major risk to the health and education of children in North West, initiatives like Add Hope that channel funds towards feeding are changing the lives of children like Lebo who is growing up at SOS Children’s Villages Rustenburg. The newest addition to SOS Children’s Villages brings support to the North West province - known for its lack of facilities for orphaned and abandoned children. Lebo was born to a single mother who passed away when she was three. Because of her malnutrition, she was taken to a local hospital where the social worker began tracing her relatives. As there were no family members who could take Lebo in, she was sent to SOS Children’s Villages Rustenburg.

Lebo was weak and fragile when she came to SOS Children’s Villages Rustenburg, she could hardly speak and was inactive for a 3-year-old. Through the support of Add Hope, her SOS house mother was able to provide nutritious food for Lebo that helped with her development. Lebo’s health has improved and she is able play with the other children in pre-school. Lebo’s SOS house mother thanks Add Hope “for giving Lebo hope for a brighter future.”

With poverty levels increasing in South Africa, the pressure is on to maintain levels of feeding and increase the children Add Hope is able to reach through partner organisations like SOS Children’s Villages. “According to Statistics SA, 55% of people are living in poverty, most of whom are children and African. We need to turn the tide on hunger and the devastating effect it has on children,” says Thabisa Mkhwanazi, KFC Africa Corporate Affairs Director and Add Hope champion. “Better nutrition in early childhood can have a lasting impact on physical, cognitive and social development, giving children hope by unlocking their potential,” says “We believe good nutrition is the single most important factor in creating a better future children like Lebo. When you add hope, you really give a child so much more than food.”

Mkhwanazi says the numbers tell a powerful story and show how Add Hope has been able to go from feeding 40 000 children in 2009, to over 120 000 today. “Add Hope works because it’s a small R2 donation that is quick to add at KFC restaurants – it’s really the power of the collective to change lives. Donations from customers keep increasing, from R6.2 million in 2010 to R38.6 million in 2016. We also continue to increase our own CSI contributions as KFC. On behalf of each of the 120 000 children all over South Africa that Add Hope feeds, we’d like to say thank you to all South Africans who donated during World Hunger Month and continue to donate. Together, we can give children all over the country a chance to learn, grow and thrive.”